Got a rebellious pup that won’t sit still for photos in highly Instagrammable locales without a collar and leash? The next version of Photoshop Elements will include intelligent tools that make it easy to erase unsightly elements on your pets with just a couple of simple brush strokes.
Photoshop Elements continues to be Adobe’s gateway tool for amateur photographers wanting to dabble and learn the basics of photo editing without jumping right into the full version of Adobe Photoshop, which requires significant investments in both time and money. Under the hood, the various tools in Photoshop Elements produce the same results that Photoshop does, but with a streamlined interface that’s much easier to quickly dive into, as well as tools that work almost automatically thanks to the AI-powered Adobe Sensei platform.
For Adobe Photoshop Elements 2022, that includes new features like photo warping so images can be applied to irregular shaped objects in a scene (such as replacing the reflections on a round pair of sunglasses); the ability to add animated elements like falling snowflakes to still images and export them as MP4s for sharing on social media; and the ability to apply the artistic style of famous paintings to photographs in a single click. That was one of the earliest tricks that revealed the true potential of AI-powered image processing, and now it’s available in an easy-to-use tool that even your grandparents could figure out.
Adobe is also expanding the Guided Edits available in Photoshop Elements 2022, which walks users through a series of common tweaks and edits that are often used to make a photo look its best during post processing. Two new options are being introduced, including one that automates Photoshop’s content-aware fill algorithms so users can change the framing of a photograph and make it taller or wider by automatically extending background imagery to fill in the voids that are created.
Another guided edit will be especially useful for pet owners who have dedicated social media accounts for their furry friends. In addition to steps that remove red eye, tweak the colours and lighting, and refine the detailed edges of fur, Photoshop Elements 2022 will include an AI-powered brush that allows unwanted elements like collars and leashes in the shot to be instantly erased as simply as using a pencil eraser. Doing edits like that by hand can involve hours of work as you carefully rebuild an animal’s fur in areas where the collar and leash were removed, but here it’s a process that involves a few mouse clicks at most.
Unlike Photoshop and Adobe’s other professional grade editing tools that are only available through a monthly or annual Adobe Creative Cloud membership, Photoshop Elements 2022 is still standalone software and is available today for about $140, or as an $110 upgrade if you have previous versions.